This recipe uses a similar technique as Cumin Spiced Carrots — cooking/steaming the carrots and parsnips in a liquid that then reduces into a sweet glaze. This recipe uses bourbon (or whisky) and brown sugar as the liquid, and comes from Food and Wine, recommended by our friend Kim.

There’s not much difference between this and macaroni and cheese, but with green beans instead of macaroni. I wanted to include some ham in with the green beans, but since the ham was cooking at the same time, I diced some tasso instead. The sauce is your basic bechamel-based cheese sauce. And who doesn’t love a bacon breadcrumb topping?

Christmas means a lot of different things to a lot of different people — generosity, togetherness, family, Christian co-option of pagan holidays, buying things on Amazon, etc. But let’s not forget the real meaning of Christmas – HAM!

But I grew up near Cincinnati and if Cincinnati is culinarily famous for anything, it’s Cincinnati chili. Some may say that Cincinnati chili isn’t really chili; I say it’s delicious. So maybe I’m starting a new Christmas Eve tradition?

I love apple cider season — it’s so versatile. You can drink it straight, or make rum and cider with a cinnamon stick, or make apple sangria with apple slices and apple brandy. You can use it in glazes and reductions. Or, with this recipe from smitten kitchen, you can make Apple Cider Caramels.